Tag Archives: dental hygiene

Using Visual Technology for Case Presentation | New York, NY

The most direct path to treatment acceptance is hastened using visual technology.

By Dr. Alvin W. Neff, DDS

Case presentations that use visual technology can become the integral component of success for the modern-day practice. Our patients must be able to clearly see their existing conditions, understand treatment recommendations, and visualize the anticipated results before they can accept and approve treatment.

Historically, dentists have used complicated dental terminology, x-rays, and study models to communicate a proposed treatment plan. Patients were expected to accept recommendations without being able to visualize the anticipated results. Patients often left the dental office confused about treatment recommendations and uncertain about the final outcome.

The most important aspect of case presentation is the ability to clearly communicate the treatment goals to the patient in a manner that will help them make a decision toward treatment acceptance. The most direct path to treatment acceptance is hastened using visual technology. The use of digital photography, upgraded display monitors, and computer imaging can create dramatic case presentations that will result in scheduled appointments for needed treatment. There is nothing more revealing than a close-up view of your own teeth or a full-face view of your own smile. Using this new format of case presentation, patients will become engaged in a co-diagnosis type of conversation and they will begin to ask for treatment. Clinicians can avoid most sales tactics and rehearsed scripts once the patient sees their case presentation with their own eyes. They see the existing condition of their teeth and the image of the anticipated desire and answers many of their concerns that had been getting in the way of case acceptance.

To read more about using visual technology for case presentation, click here.

Aesthetic Advantage has state of the art educational facilities that can help you take your career to the next level, call us at (212) 794.3552 for more information.

Aesthetic Advantage proudly serves New York, Atlanta, Florida, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Boston, Rhode Island, California, South Carolina and all surrounding areas.

When It’s Time to Enhance Your Skillset | New York, NY

If life has taught us anything, it’s that time and progress doesn’t stop. And if you don’t change with it, it will leave you behind. The same can be said for our professions. Technology and evolution are always going to be, so if you want to keep up with your competition, you may need to seek further education to continue to be successful. That’s where the Dental College at New York University College of Dentistry’s State of the Art Rosenthal Institute comes in. It is the perfect opportunity to provide you and your team with a completely unique outlook on dentistry with hands-on dental courses, professional guest speakers and mentors from various dental backgrounds.

Senior Instructor Dr. Alvin W. Neff states, “Dr. Larry Rosenthal transformed my practice from average to excellent by implementing the principles he teaches. As a result, my Northwest Arkansas practice is a highly successful general dentistry practice which focuses on restorative and cosmetic procedures.

Having personally attended over 2,000 hours of continuing education, I can tell you that Dr. Larry Rosenthal’s seminars, year after year, are the most inspiring and educational of any offered in our profession. He takes great pride in helping others achieve success. This is the true example of a leader. I have met dentists from all over the world at his seminars. The high caliber of dentists who come from all corners of the earth to hear Dr. Larry Rosenthal and to learn about his techniques consistently impresses me.”

Dr. Neff is one of the many individuals who has benefited from the dental college courses offered by Aesthetic Advantage. If you are looking for a way to enhance your professionalism, consider enrolling today.

Aesthetic Advantage has state of the art educational facilities that can help you take your career to the next level, call us at (212) 794.3552 for more information.

Aesthetic Advantage proudly serves New York, Atlanta, Florida, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Boston, Rhode Island, California, South Carolina and all surrounding areas.

Steps in Creating a Beautiful Smile | New York, NY

We all want the smile of our dreams – a smile that lights up every room we walk into. But for many of us, it doesn’t come naturally. We need the help of trained dental professionals to produce the smile we’ve always wanted. The following is Dr. Hamlett and Dr. Rosenthal will take us through those steps:

The single most important factor in creating a beautiful smile is the ability to visualize the final result before you begin. Laboratory communication, including photographs and models of the approved temporaries, is key to success. A thorough lab prescription detailing shade, texture, central length, incisal translucency, and any other pertinent information helps to facilitate a predictable result. To develop properly proportioned teeth, it is essential to properly address many characteristics, such as contours, shade, size and length of centrals, phonetics, and occlusion. This leads to a key artistic technique—the art of recontouring—with both temporaries and, if necessary, the final restorations.

To read more about how to get the smile you’ve always wanted, click here.

Is Cosmetic Dentistry Vain? | New York, NY

No one wants to be thought of as vain, but in this day and age, a large stress is placed on the way we look. If we don’t like something about ourselves, we try to change it. We go on diets, we dye our hair – there is a myriad of options we can do to improve our appearance. Cosmetic dentistry is the branch of dentistry that mainly deals with the appearance of teeth. There are several procedures involved, like teeth whitening, teeth straightening, veneers, crowns, bleaching and reshaping. While it is true that cosmetic dentistry is “elective” in more ways than one, in just as many ways, cosmetic dentistry also offers plenty of benefits from an improved smile.

A better-looking smile helps improve your self-confidence and self-esteem significantly. This then makes it easier for you to go out, smile and socialize with other people. By helping you become more confident about yourself and feel more attractive, you have a much better chance of living a better and more positive life.

The word “cosmetic” always gives off the impression that the main, and only, beneficiary is one’s appearance and that it’s only done to improve one’s look. Though, as far as cosmetic dentistry goes, it’s not always just about esthetics, it’s also about improving your oral and overall health.

Not only that, but there are many other cases where cosmetic dentistry helps in improving the overall function your teeth. Those with misaligned teeth or bites often develop worse dental problems that may result in painful areas outside of one’s teeth and this is something that cosmetic dentistry can help with.

Aesthetic Advantage has state of the art educational facilities that can help you take your career to the next level, call us at (212) 794.3552 for more information.

Aesthetic Advantage proudly serves New York, Atlanta, Florida, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Boston, Rhode Island, California, South Carolina and all surrounding areas.

A Miracle of Collaborative Giving | New York, NY

A smile makeover gives new hope to a cancer patient.

By David Ward, DMD

I’ve often had patients come and go with very little fanfare. It’s not that I don’t want to know more about my patients’ personal lives; it’s just that the day’s pace leaves me with precious little time to ask more than the typical superficial questions: How are the kids? How is your spouse? Congratulations on your new baby!

But on a rather ordinary day in March 2011, I met an extraordinary person. At the age of 55, Roger decided it was time to get the smile he always wanted. After cursory introductions and greetings, I sensed Roger’s uneasiness and asked about his health and medical information. He told me he’d recently seen a doctor for a medical problem and needed more tests. They suspected cancer.

But Roger quickly became more upbeat and began opening up about his desire for a better smile. It was immediately clear that we’d have a great relationship and I’d enjoy providing him with a new smile.

After discussing his goals and desires for his smile, we started discussing a budget. We obviously wouldn’t be able to complete the full plan of crowns and veneers he’d hoped for due to financial constraints, but we agreed on a staged treatment over a period of time. Roger left after chatting with just about everyone on my team, which became a common occurrence that we all came to enjoy during the course of his treatment.

Want to read more? Click here.

Snoozing Your Way Through Dental Appointments | New York, NY

Of all the health professionals feared most by adults, the dentist is at the top of the list. Dental Anxiety (DA) is the actual diagnosis for this fear and adults everywhere have it. Dental professionals everywhere have been busy making huge strides in order to calm those fears. Some are turning their dental offices into more of a spa feel than a dental one. Aromatherapy, soothing music, weighed blankets – if you can think of a soothing way to relax, chances are your dental professional has it. And if you still need “something stronger”, there’s sedation dentistry.

Sedation dentistry is the way your dentist relaxes you enough to handle the dental procedure through the use of medication, in addition to the numbing agent applied to the area that will be worked on to alleviate any pain caused by the procedure. The use of sedation is to make you as comfortable as possible as they do their job and to make recovery time minimal.

If you don’t need much to relax you, chances are you will receive nitrous oxide, or laughing gas. It is given to you as you breathe through a mask, so zero pain or needles are involved. If you need to be calmed with more than a little gas, the next step up is an oral sedative so no pain or needles are involved to make a patient groggy, but you will be awake during the procedure. IV sedation takes affect a lot quicker, but the dentist also has the ability to adjust the amount as needed. Administered by medications prior to your procedure, deeper sedation methods will render you unconscious and unable to be awakened easily.

Aesthetic Advantage has state of the art educational facilities that can help you take your career to the next level, call us at (212) 794.3552 for more information.

Aesthetic Advantage proudly serves New York, Atlanta, Florida, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Boston, Rhode Island, California, South Carolina and all surrounding areas.

Tobacco Is Killing the Good Ones | New York, NY

It’s nothing new – we all know that smoking is bad for you. And while there are lots of ways to quit smoking on the market, many still haven’t made the choice to quit. But this goes beyond lung conditions and cancer risks, smoking is also affecting our smiles and dentists have a hard time advising their patients on the dangers of smoking. In order to help sway the masses, let’s take a look at what can happen if you continue to smoke or use tobacco products.

A new study has indicated that there is a reason why smokers suffer higher rates of oral diseases. It has been discovered that in smokers, good bacteria are essentially ejected by pathogens created by smoking. Believe it or not, but our mouths are the frontline when it comes to keeping diseases at bay. These good bacteria in our mouth work by keeping bad bacteria that causes infections and diseases (pathogens) away. In nonsmokers, good bacteria will repopulate the mouth shortly after cleaning and acts a shield to protect your mouth from disease. In smokers, good bacteria will not resurface and instead the mouth gets colonized by pathogens (bad bacteria). And it is these pathogens that will cause infections and diseases will rapidly develop. If you see these symptoms or find that your mouth is changing for the worse, we advise to talk to your dental professional about seeking treatment. Prevention is the best medicine and can keep your smile healthy and radiant.

Aesthetic Advantage has state of the art educational facilities that can help you take your career to the next level, call us at (212) 794.3552 for more information.

Aesthetic Advantage proudly serves New York, Atlanta, Florida, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Boston, Rhode Island, California, South Carolina and all surrounding areas.

Periodontitis and Pregnancy Hormones | New York, NY

When you are creating a new life inside your body, it is natural to find that your hormones are a little bit out of whack as your body adjusts to accommodate for this tiny human. What we don’t immediately recognize that this is will not only affect your day and the people around you, the surges of hormones can also affect your dental health. And if left untreated, can in turn affect your pregnancy. Here at Aesthetic Advantage we like to keep readers and fellow dental professionals abreast of the latest dental health findings. A new study shows that untreated periodontitis can complicate pregnancy in woman.

In a study of 366 pregnant women, it was revealed that oral bacteria in the amniotic fluid of women whose pregnancies were complicated by preterm birth. A prior study showed that nonsurgical periodontal therapy could lower the rate of preterm birth. Periodontitis is the beginning stages of gum disease, so it is important to make sure you are keeping your dental appointments during your entire pregnancy to ensure this happy time in your life is going as smoothly as possible.

Periodontitis was also found more prevalent in woman who had preterm low birth weight infants than in woman whose infants had a normal birth weight. Hormonal changes during puberty, menstruation, pregnancy and menopause, cause an increase in the number of oral bacteria, which enter the blood and negatively impact on certain female health issues.

In addition to regular brushing and flossing, woman should visit the dentist at least twice a year, and more often if women are pregnant, suffer from bone loss or gum problems. Keep your baby safe and sound in every way possible – see your dentist.

If you are interested in dental college courses, contact Aesthetic Advantage at 212-794-3552 to register today! Or visit www.aestheticadvantage.com for additional information.

Aesthetic Advantage proudly serves New York, Atlanta, Florida, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Boston, Rhode Island, California, South Carolina, North Carolina and all surrounding areas.

Summer Is the Sweetest Time of Year | New York, NY

Now that we are officially in the midst of summer, it is time for all of our fun summertime events to begin. Unfortunately for our teeth, it is also the season so full of fun and sugar that we tend to overindulge in all of the sugary sweetness the season has to offer.

Believe it or not, but the average American consumes 50 gallons of soda and other sweetened beverages each year, according to the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, and more than 19 percent of children ages 2 to 19 have untreated cavities. This is a problem, folks. Because not only does bacteria feed on the sugars in what you eat and drink, but it creates acid that can break down the tooth’s outer surface and valuable minerals that protect teeth from decay.

“Sipping sugary drinks gives bacteria in the mouth more power to create acid that weakens tooth enamel and causes cavities,” said CDA President-elect Lindsay Robinson, DDS. “In addition, sports drinks pose many of the same risks as other sugar-loaded beverages, such as irreversible dental erosion, and should not be substituted for water.”

CDA urges people to swap out sugar-laden drinks for a glass of milk or water this summer. It contains zero sugar, acids and calories, making it fantastic for your teeth and your overall health. After all, summer’s hot – we need to stay hydrated to keep our bodies working properly.

Most importantly, protect teeth throughout during these hot summer months by brushing for two minutes twice a day, flossing regularly and visiting a dentist for a complete dental checkup on a regular basis.

If you are interested in dental college courses, contact Aesthetic Advantage at 212-794-3552 to register today! Or visit www.aestheticadvantage.com for additional information.

Aesthetic Advantage proudly serves New York, Atlanta, Florida, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Boston, Rhode Island, California, South Carolina, North Carolina and all surrounding areas.